The lunch pail, or box, has been a common companion to the construction worker for many years. In its most common form, the lunch pail is adapted to contain the ingredients for a lunch, such as sandwiches, fruit, and a beverage, and little else. In recent times, however, the common lunch box has been replaced by more elaborate containers which, in some instances, have been formed of heat insulating material capable of maintaining the contents thereof either below room temperature to preserve the contents, or at elevated temperatures to make the food contained therein more palatable. Containers along these lines are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,499,254 granted Feb. 28, 1952, to C. Parker for "Thermos Lunch Box" and U.S. Pat. No. 2,672,232 granted Mar. 16, 1954 to W. Kessell, Jr. for "Lunch Box with Vacuum Containers". Some lunch boxes have even been equipped with electric heaters as is exemplified by U.S. Pat. No. 2,611,851 granted Sept. 23, 1952 to F. H. Lott for "Heated Lunch Pail".
The lunch pails of the prior art have, however, been deficient in one or the other of two major requirements of a portable container for use by construction workers in their environment. The first requirement is that the container be sufficiently versatile to be adapted to carry a variety of food items and other miscellaneous items of various sizes and shapes. Ideally, the container should be compartmented to snugly support the items which are stored therein so as to prevent their movement about in a damaging fashion as the container is subjected to the usual rough and tumble handling which is inevitable in the construction environment. The second requirement usually not met by prior art lunch pails is that some means be provided for securing the container in place on a stable surface to reduce the likelihood of the container being knocked over or dropped a considerable distance with resultant damage to the container and its contents.